This invention relates to a poker card game played with fifty-two conventional playing cards, and more particularly to a variation of the known poker card game called Texas Hold'em wherein the players are required to fold their cards face-up.
The poker card game known as Texas Hold'em is well known and currently very popular. The game is played with a standard deck of fifty-two conventional playing cards with no jokers. The game is also played without antes. The game is played so that each player has the use of seven cards in order to form a five card poker hand. The player having the highest poker hand is the winner of the hand. Hands are ranked in standard poker fashion, i.e. royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair and high card, in descending order.
A dealer is typically designated by use of a dealer button, which is a round disk with the word “dealer” on it. It is passed clockwise from hand to hand as the game progresses. The person having the dealer button in front of him is called “on the button”. The person to the left of the button is called “in the small blind” and the next person on the left is called “in the big blind”. The persons in the “small blind” and in the “big blind” are required to bet and to put money into the pot before the start of the hand. The “small blind” is one-half of the amount of the “big blind”.
Once the “blinds” are put into the pot, each player is dealt two face-down cards. These two cards are called the players' hole cards.
The person to the left of the “big blind” is the first person to act. That person looks at his two face-down cards, and then that person has three options. That person determines if he wants to fold (get out of the hand), bet the predetermined minimum amount (the amount of the “big blind”), or to raise. Each person at the table participating in the hand being played has the same three options. This is called the first round of betting.
Once the first round of betting is finished, the so-called “flop” occurs. This is where the dealer deals three community cards face-up on the table. The term “community card” refers to a card that is exposed (face-up) and is available for use by any of the players to form a poker hand.
Another, or second, round of betting then occurs. Each person then decides to fold, check, bet or raise. A player who checks is indicating that he wishes to remain in the hand being played but does not want to place a bet. But, if another player later in the round of betting places a bet, the player checking must call by betting the amount bet by the other player to remain in the hand being played. Once this second round of betting is finished, a fourth community card is dealt face-up on the table for all remaining players still in the hand to use to form a poker hand. The fourth card is sometimes called “the turn” or “fourth street”. Another, or third, round of betting then occurs wherein each player decides to fold, check, bet or raise.
Then the fifth and last community card is dealt face-up on the table. The fifth card is called “fifth street” or “the river”. Another, or fourth, round of betting then occurs wherein each player decides to fold, check, bet or raise.
Each player remaining in the hand has a total of seven cards (the five community cards face-up on the table and the two face-down cards that each player was initially dealt). The best five cards out of seven are used to make the best poker hand according to the conventional predetermined poker ranking system. The best poker hand wins the pot and all of the money in the pot.
The dealer then shuffles the deck before starting the next hand. Texas Hold'em can be played with betting limits for each round of betting or it can be no limit Texas Hold'em. No limit Texas Hold'em means that at any time a player can bet all of his chips or money.